Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Bonddad's Wednesday Linkfest

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the economy is ripe for an interest-rate increase and repeated that the Fed’s November meeting should be viewed as “live” for a policy decision, despite its proximity to the U.S. presidential election.

“I would expect that the case would remain compelling” for a rate hike when the Federal Open Market Committee gathers in Washington Nov. 1-2, the week before Americans head to the polls, she told Kathleen Hays in an interview on Bloomberg Television Monday. Mester added that politics wouldn’t affect the decision.

Mester was one of three voters on the FOMC to dissent in favor of hiking when policy makers decided on Sept. 21 to leave interest rates unchanged. Following the meeting, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she didn’t see any evidence that low unemployment was triggering a rise in inflation that required an increase.

Based on preliminary data, global growth is estimated at 2.9 percent in the first half of 2016, slightly weaker than in the second half of 2015 and lower than projected in the April 2016 WEO. Global industrial production remained subdued, but has shown signs of a pickup in recent months, and trade volumes retreated in the quarter through June after several months of sustained recovery from the trough of early 2015 (Figure 1.1). The recent weak momentum is mostly a product of softer activity in advanced economies.

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